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SGPC chief Tohra passes away

          New Delhi: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra, the governing body of Sikh shrines across the world, passed away on Wednesday night here after a heart attack. He leaves behind his widow and a daughter. His son-in-law Harmel Singh Tohra is a member of the Political Affairs Committee of the SAD. Ailing for some time, Tohra suffered a massive heart attack last week. The Sikh leader was flown to Delhi earlier on Wednesday from Amritsar after his condition deteriorated. Tohra, 79, who was re-elected as the SGPC chief in November last year is the longest reigning "Pope" of the Sikhs. Several political leaders turned up at the Escorts hospital to pay tributes.

          Born on September 24, 1924, Tohra rose from scratch, worked as an active member of SAD, and emerged as the patriarch of the community's religio-politics within a few years. Tohra rose to be the SGPC chief, a post he held for 27 years. Known to be a non-conformist and hardliner, he became a bete noire of the Congress party, and very often, of the SAD party, closely intertwined with the SGPC. Tohra lost the SGPC post following differences with SAD leader and former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal but the two patched up late last year as Tohra returned to head the Sikh religious body. Tohra's body is being taken on Thursday to his native district Patiala. The cremation will be performed in his native village, Tohra, near Sirhind in Punjab on Friday.

Two LTTE suspects detained at Chennai airport  (Go To Top)

          Chennai: The police at Chennai's Anna international airport have arrested two Lankan nationals, suspected to be members of the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Central Industrial Security Force sources said Sivaraman (28) and Gunaseelan (32) were detained on suspicion while trying to board the Chennai-Singapore IC 555 flight using fabricated travel documents and passports. Two others, including a loader with Air India, Raghupathy (40), were also detained. Raghupathy had allegedly stamped the passports with the immigration seal before his night duty, the sources said. Inquiries revealed that the duo paid Rs.25 lakh to a Mumbai-based travel agent-cum-overseas manpower consultant for their journey to the US via Singapore, the sources added. Based on their confession, Sudhir Singh, the local agent of the Mumbai travel agent, was arrested. Singh hails from Rajasthan but was temporarily residing in suburban Chromepet. The CISF is on the lookout for another Air India staffer, for his alleged involvement in the crime. All the four have been handed over to the immigration authorities.

One injured in blast at Srinagar municipal office (Go To Top)

          Srinagar: One person was injured after a bomb exploded at Srinagar's municipality complex here today. he bomb was reportedly planted in one of the bathrooms inside the complex, and it went off at around 11 30 a.m. The area houses the offices of Inspector General of police, the Deputy Inspector General of police, the Senior Superintendent of Police and other officers.

No end yet to cinema strike (Go To Top)

          Mumbai: Theatres in Maharashtra remained closed due to an indefinite strike against a slew of taxes levied by the state authorities. More than 900 theatre owners in the state are taking part in the strike jointly called by the Cinematograph Exhibitors' Association and the Cine Theatres Association, representing single audiotorium cinema theatres. Movie hall owners say the state government has not cut the steep entertainment tax as promised earlier and that it has almost crippled the industry, already hit by a sharp fall in audiences. Their other demands include supply of electricity to theatres on cheap industrial rates and abolition of tax on box office collections.

Free HIV/AIDS treatment programme begins (Go To Top)

          Bangalore: A free anti-retro viral drug treatment programme for 100,000 HIV/AIDS patients got underway across six states on Thursday. The pilot project will initially cater to just 25 patients each in seven centres across the HIV-sensitive states and will gradually reach out to a higher number after the general elections are over in May. The prevailing model code of conduct prohibits governments from launching any scheme, which might elevate its image in the voter's mind before the elections. Officials in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Manipur have been directed to run the programme on a low profile. Costing close to Rs. 2000, the treatment is otherwise out of bounds for most rural families, amongst the high risk group in India, as many survive at less than Rs. 40 a day.

Pak to buy frigates, choppers from China (Go To Top)

         Islamabad: Pakistan will acquire four frigates from China by June this year, the country's chief of naval staff, Admiral Shahid Karimullah, told reporters on Wednesday. In June, both countries would formally sign the agreement for the supply of four Chinese F-22P frigates. One or two of these frigates would be built in China, while the rest in Pakistan, Karimullah was quoted by the News, as saying. Pakistan would also buy anti-submarine helicopters from China. He said the Pakistan navy had been conducting joint exercises with numerous countries' navies and at present its fleet is participating in a two-day multilateral maritime exercise in the Gulf of Oman. In the exercise, "Arabian Shark 2004", maritime units of nine international navies have been participating, including those of the US, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Australia, Kuwait and Bahrain.